
Cultivating culture and spirits: The untold story of a mezcal-making Mexican farmer
I met Mr. Jesus on my way from Puerto Vallarta to the quaint town of San Sebastian in Jalisco, Mexico. “Hacienda Don Lalin”—Mr. Jesus’s Raicilla distillery—stood with an unmanicured charm, amidst the red volcanic soils of the Sierra Madre mountains. Jesus’s ruddy face, a lot like the amber Reposado he poured into our tiny tasting cups, had a rustic passion to it. This was a man who was physically connected to his craft of Mezcal making—from preparing the earth, cultivating the Agave, observing t